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In Search of 1000 True Fans

Man, I love the internet! Someone can write a blog and it can still have impact years later when someone like me stumbles across it. Like a message in a bottle, waiting patiently for someone to discover it. Last week, I stumbled across Kevin Kelly’s blog about 1000 True Fans (written in 2008).

Basically, the premise is that an artist of any sort just needs to find 1000 True Fans to be able to support themselves by their art.

What is a “true fan”? Someone that believes in what you do and is willing to pay money to support you. i.e. someone that will always go to see your shows or will always buy an art piece that you create.

I think the concept is revolutionary because its so easy to dismiss the viability of an artistic career because the odds of “making it big” are so slim. But, if you only really have to reach 1000 people, it isn’t beyond the realm of reality.

Heck, off the top of my head, I can come up with 20 people I know that would willingly pay money to see a show that I’ve written. And I’m pretty sure most of them would buy a book I wrote.

Only 980 people to go…

Or just multiply that by 50 times…

Now, some people would say that it is still a lot. Maybe. But I definitely think it is a goal that can be reached.

You still need to work hard. Or smart. You won’t get there immediately. It may take years to find those 1000 True Fans. But it is way easier to focus your ideas and inspiration towards people that “get you” than to spend your time trying to guess what the “next big thing” will be.

That’s the real key to this concept: There are thousands of people out there that will “get you” and support you.

You just need to find them.

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(I decided to put the hyperlinks at the end of my blog in the hopes of people reading through the blog first, instead of being distracted by the links. At least, that’s what happens to me when I read a blog… )